I. The Church and the Churches

As he begins chapter four of The Normal Christian Church Life, Watchman Nee points out two distinct usages of the term “church” in the gospel of Matthew as the basis for his discussion of the local church. The Lord Jesus uses this term first in Matthew 16 and again in Matthew 18, yet as Watchman Nee explains, these two contexts actually reveal two different aspects of the Church–the universal Church and the local church:

The Word of God teaches us that the Church is one. Why then did the apostles found separate churches in each of the places they visited? If the Church is the Body of Christ, it cannot but be one. Then how does it come about that we speak of churches?

The word “church” means “the called-out ones.” The term is used twice in the Gospels, once in Matthew 16:18 and once in Matthew 18:17, and we meet it quite frequently in the Acts and the Epistles. In the Gospels the word is used on both occasions by our Lord, but it is employed in a somewhat different sense each time.

“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). What church is this? Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Lord declared that He would build His Church upon this confession—the confession that as to His Person He is the Son of God, and as to His work He is the Christ of God. This Church comprises all the saved, without reference to time or space, that is, all who in the purpose of God are redeemed by virtue of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, and are born again by the operation of His Spirit. This is the Church universal, the Church of God, the Body of Christ. (51)

Watchman Nee now addresses the significance of the shift in the Lord’s usage of the term “church” from a universal context in Matthew 16 to a local context in chapter 18:

“And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church” (Matt. 18:17). The word “church” is used here in quite a different sense from the sense in Matthew 16:18. The sphere of the church referred to here is clearly not as wide as the sphere of the Church mentioned in the previous passage. The Church there is a Church that knows nothing of time or place, but the church here is obviously limited both to time and place, for it is one that can hear you speak. The Church mentioned in chapter sixteen includes all the children of God in every locality, while the church mentioned in chapter eighteen includes only the children of God living in one locality; and it is because it is limited to one place that it is possible for you to tell your difficulties to the believers of whom it is composed. Obviously the church here is local, not universal, for no one could speak at one time to all the children of God throughout the universe. It is only possible to speak at one time to the believers living in one place. (51-52)

As he contrasts now the two aspects of the Church in the Gospel of Matthew, Watchman Nee makes clear to us the distinction between the invisible, spiritual, heavenly universal Church and the visible, practical, and earthly local church:

We have clearly two different aspects of the Church before us—Church and the churches, the universal Church and the local churches. The Church is invisible; the churches are visible. The Church has no organization; the churches are organized. The Church is spiritual; the churches are spiritual and yet physical. The Church is purely an organism; the churches are an organism, yet at the same time they are organized, which is seen by the fact that elders and deacons hold office there.

All Church difficulties arise in connection with the local churches, not with the universal Church. The latter is invisible and spiritual, therefore beyond the reach of man, while the former is visible and organized, therefore still liable to be touched by human hands. The heavenly Church is so far removed from the world that it is possible to remain unaffected by it, but the earthly churches are so close to us, that if problems arise there we feel them acutely. The invisible church does not test our obedience to God, but the visible churches test us severely by facing us with issues on the intensely practical plane of our earthly life. (52)